OPINION THE SCEPTER 2FEBRUARY 1, 2013

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!e Scepter is a school-sponsored publication of Papillion-La Vista High School 402 E. Centennial Rd. Papillion, NE 68046. !e Scepter’s o"ce is located in room 307. !e Scepter is printed by the Papillion Times, P.O. Box 28940. !e Scepter is a member of the Nebraska High School Press Association. !e Scepter is a school-sponsored publication and therefore recognizes its responsibility to stay within the boundaries that the school administration sets. !e Scepter will therefore inform its readers using a high standard of morals and ethics. !e Scepter encourages readers to respond in the form of letters to the editor, which can be sent to room 307. !e Scepter’s editorial sta# reserves the right to edit the letters for grammatical errors and to remove any profanity. !e editors also reserve the right to exclude letters that are false in their statements or accusations. !e Scepter will not accept advertisements that promote activities illegal to minors. Advertising rates are available upon request.

Our Sta!

402 E. Centennial Rd. Papillion, NE 68046 Phone: (402) 898-0400 Fax: (402) 898-0415 Website: www.plhs.paplv.org

Editor-In-ChiefKasey Trouba

Assistant EditorsJared BenakPaige Ritter

News EditorMaddie Hoaglund

Entertainment EditorsKatie HicksJoey Larsen

Features EditorMaggie HoweRachel Boyce

Sports EditorsSam Huckle

Cherek Elsasser

Photography EditorDanielle Crawford

Business ManagerJake Doeden

Beats EditorNick Gebhart

Sta!:Joey LudemannGina MetzlerEmily PetryTrinia PuschMorgan LaRandeauLauren McNeil

Web MasterDalton Cra$

Emma NeilTaylor PudenzSavannah SegarsZach SwobodaJohn WieseBridgette WilcoxDevin Mueller

PLPulse EditorTaryn Uhe

Graphics EditorReid Matthias

AdvisorJoe Rohacik

In 2010, 11,078 deaths in the U.S. were gun homicides. America holds 5% of the world’s population, but a whopping 45% of the gun holding population.

!e possibility of danger is everywhere, and so is death.

When hearing about this, most people run in fear. !ey hide. !ey lead lives that

Society should not stop living in a world full of danger.!""#$%&'($&)*$%&++,$-)

ANOTHER OPINIONBy Danielle Crawford

It is o"cially the middle of winter in the Midwest. !e temperatures are reaching new lows and the roads still have ice patches from a blizzard that hit over a month ago. It’s that time of year where it is dark when students arrive to school and for most, dark when they leave. !is lack of sunlight is what has students, particularly female students, worried. It has become a big trend in recent years to have the tannest skin possible. Pale skin is simply not an option for many young females these days. !is need for perfectly tanned skin comes with a price, though. According to the Skin Cancer Foundation, just one indoor tanning session per year in high school or college boosts the risk of basal cell carcinoma (a slow growing form of skin

cancer) by 10 percent. !at risk is increased to 73 percent if one tans six times per year. Due to facts such as that, 32 states thus far have enacted various laws that restrict minors from indoor tanning, or restrict how minors may use indoor tanning services. Two weeks ago, Omaha Senator Jeremy Nordquist proposed a bill for the state of Nebraska to restrict tanning in the same way that other states have done as well. !e initial response to this bill does not look good. Tanning salons do not intend to take this bill lightly. !is is something that could hurt their business greatly, especially with prom season getting closer and closer. Students’ initial response to the bill may not be all that hot either. !e Skin

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In light of the many mass shootings that took place in 2012, gun control is a topic that is being reconsidered in many aspects. !e reality of the matter is the majority of the guns used in the violent acts were obtained legally.

However, according to the data collected on all of the mass shootings since 1985 by Mother Jones, a non-pro%t news organization, mental illness was present and went

6,0)(/"+,(/)+7($,"4&**,$48")$(9,'.,4".07$,(4,With many worrying about gun control, the nation’s lack of a mental healthcare plan becomes more evident.

Cancer Foundation states that nearly 30 million people tan indoors in the U.S. every year. Two to three million of them are teens. When considering the fact that indoor tanning at a young age can increase the risk of skin cancer by 10 percent, those numbers are astounding. Skin cancer is a horribly unfortunate thing, but what is even more unfortunate is that young people are actively subjecting themselves to the very rays that cause skin cancer. !e International Agency for Research on Cancer includes ultraviolet (UV) tanning devices in its Group 1, a list of the most dangerous cancer-causing substances. Group 1 also includes agents such as plutonium, cigarettes, and solar UV radiation. Despite the facts,

there are many out there who still desire to have tanned skin. Rather than subjecting one’s self to harmful arti%cial rays, students could try other methods of tanning. When done correctly, spray tans can look just as good as tans from a tanning bed. An even better idea for when the weather warms up would be to go outside and spend time in the actual sun. To get a healthy amount of vitamin D, one should spend at least 10 or 15 minutes outside. !e fact of the matter is that arti%cially sun-kissed skin is in no way at all worth permanent and even deadly damage to one’s body. Tanned skin is nothing more than a fashion statement that can have grave consequences.

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are surrounded by the fear of what-ifs, and simply not living life.

Danger surrounding us has become such a second nature idea, that fear is integrated into our every thought and move.

With the recent shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, and the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colorado, society has been put on high alert. And for most of us, that means hyper vigilance and even more fear.

For me, personally, I can’t hear a spontaneous announcement without a ton of bricks dropping on my stomach.

Or see a stranger in the hallway.

Or simply a peer walking too close.

I have found, though,

that living life like that is not living life. When you hold yourself back with fear and uncertainty, then you’re holding yourself back from living.

Being afraid is OK. Being uncertain is OK. !ose are simply feelings of a normal human. But what is the point of surviving, or never having to experience such tragedy, if your life isn’t being lived to the fullest?

We need to live a life the victims would be proud of. Live a life you will be proud of.

!e bad guys – the shooters, the murderers, the thieves, – they want to ruin lives. !ey want revenge. !ey want to hurt.

Don’t let the bad guys win. Don’t let them control your life like they want to.

Tragedy does not give

people the incentive to stop living life.

Tragedy does not give people a reason to stop living. It gives people a reason to live.

Without the intent of sounding preachy, or self-righteous, go live life to the fullest. Live in memory of those lost, and not in the shadow

of fear, death and sadness. As Victor Hugo, author of “Les Misérables”, once said, “It is nothing to die. It is frightful not to live.”

untreated in most of the shooters. Many people are looking to Washington and our nation’s leaders for answers and a resolution to keep these tragedies from happening, and rightly so, but they are looking for the wrong answers. When people get into car accidents people do not blame the cars for the accident. !at is why they put people at fault. When shootings like the one that just recently happened in Newtown occur, why is it sensible to create laws for guns that are already out in circulation? !e likelihood is that the weapons that are accounted for with these new laws are in the hands of sane people who got them legally. !e problems occur when people are put in the position to decide between getting their loved ones professional mental help and paying their rent or putting food on the table for the rest of the family. Most times

promising to themselves that they will ‘keep an eye on it’ or ‘look in to it later’. Before anyone knows what has happened it is too late. In the majority of the cases mental illness most likely fueled the %re by hindering the shooter’s ability to make clear decisions and think rationally, something that could have been prevented with better and more mental health care options.

!ere is no excuse for murdering innocent people, but in the same way there is also no excuse for the government to ignore the fact that mental illness is there and people need more options. With whatever additions come with the new gun control laws, the government really needs to consider putting a mental health care plan in place. !is will help families to get their mentally ill loved ones the help they need so no one has to go home at the end of the day and

read about more heartbreaking stories of tragedy. Adjustments still need to be made with new health

care legislation. Mental health care should be a bigger priority to the government so people have more options when it

comes to getting the help they need.

A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE By Maddie Hoaglund

(TRINIA PUSCH | THE SCEPTER)

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64.5% of mass shooters in the United States had a

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Based on the top 62 mass shootings since 1982.

64.5% 24.2%

11.3%

mental illness at the time of the shooting.

It was unclear whether mental illness was present.

No evidence of mental illness found.

Map produced by the Cartographic Research Lab University of Alabama | Information gathered from Mother Jones, December 2012

Trinia  Pusch  Papillion-­‐La  Vista  High  School